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Does England feel like a foreign country to you?

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    #122
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    Figel Narage wrote: »
    As a person who was born and lived in the UK for a few years even at a young age I could feel the differences between both countries. Roads, houses and buildings are a bit different in my experience. People in the south (mainly greater London) from my experience are a bit more reserved and dry, don't like being approached as they probably assume nothing good will come from the interaction while in Ireland a lot of people have no problem being approached on the street. I've noticed people seem to care less or more focused on themselves out in public while in Ireland people seem to be very aware of who's around them like people will glance at each other in the street while in England I've noticed it doesn't happen as much. I've noticed the poverty that some posters have mentioned whereby some impoverished areas are really run down which you wouldn't find to the same level over here.

    I would far rather time were taken before any great familiarity than an over effusive greeting that was hollow and very temporary/


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    #123
    begbysback
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,910 ✭✭✭begbysback


    We drink their tea, speak their language and support their football teams, other than the accents it may as well be home.


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    #124
    cgcsb
    Registered Users Posts: 9,275 ✭✭✭cgcsb


    begbysback wrote: »
    We drink their tea, speak their language and support their football teams, other than the accents it may as well be home.

    Football isn't really all that popular in Ireland.


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    #125
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,706 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    begbysback wrote: »
    We drink their tea, speak their language and support their football teams, other than the accents it may as well be home.

    Our preferred tea blends are rather stronger than that drunk in most of England. You need to get Yorkshire Tea or another heavily assam based blend to avoid getting some fragranced awfulness.
    cgcsb wrote: »
    Football isn't really all that popular in Ireland.

    Most popular participant sport (albeit I don't think more popular than all four GAA sports combined); huge amount of money spent on TV coverage of it, flights to matches in normal times etc etc.


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    #126
    begbysback
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,910 ✭✭✭begbysback


    L1011 wrote: »
    Our preferred tea blends are rather stronger than that drunk in most of England. You need to get Yorkshire Tea or another heavily assam based blend to avoid getting some fragranced awfulness.



    Most popular participant sport (albeit I don't think more popular than all four GAA sports combined); huge amount of money spent on TV coverage of it, flights to matches in normal times etc etc.

    Just leave the teabag in for longer when over there


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    #127
    WesternZulu
    Registered Users Posts: 1,924 ✭✭✭WesternZulu


    L1011 wrote: »
    Most popular participant sport (albeit I don't think more popular than all four GAA sports combined); huge amount of money spent on TV coverage of it, flights to matches in normal times etc etc.

    Soccer has more people that play at all levels such as 5-a-sides but I'm fairly sure gaelic football and hurling both have more playing at a competitive level.

    For all intents and purposes soccer/football is only something Irish people truly get into every 2 years depending on if Ireland gets to a WC or European championship. Unfortunately, we simply don't have the same soccer culture as England, no-where near it.


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    #128
    Nqp15hhu
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,254 ✭✭✭Nqp15hhu


    Football is very popular here.


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    #129
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 7,712 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    You never hear too many hating Kerry.


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    #130
    Jim2007
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 9,994 Mod ✭✭✭✭Jim2007


    Nqp15hhu wrote: »
    So for me, yes certain aspects feel foreign, others don’t. Obviously for me it wouldn’t quite be the same as going to Spain etc.

    It's no different to any other European country, some of the values, expectations, ways of doing things etc are the same and some are not. Just because we speak a similar language does not make it any less foreign, it just makes it easier to understand them.

    Here in Switzerland we get a lot of our TV and so on from Germany, but when we go there it does not seem any less foreign than crossing over into France or Italy and don't get me started on Austria!

    But Ireland has changed dramatically over the past 30 years or so. Apart from a few individuals the feeling sorry for ourselves has been replaced with a sense of self confidence, a very different value system. From the products on the shelves to the way we go about things, it's a very different place today.

    About 3 years ago I spent a week in Dublin with a UK colleague who had not been in Dublin for over 15 years and he made the comment: Dublin no longer feels like a British city anymore and I tend to agree with him. It's more like most European cities.


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    #131
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 18,749 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Nqp15hhu wrote: »
    Perhaps you need to travel around England more, instead of dismissing my real life experience.

    I have travelled a lot of England, including living there. Most of my family live there. so thats MY real life experience.
    Your real life experience seems to come from whatever part you lived in, but nowhere else.
    England is a big country.


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    #132
    Tombo2001
    Registered Users Posts: 6,470 ✭✭✭Tombo2001


    cgcsb wrote: »
    Ever been to Spain? or know many Spanish people?
    A fundamentally socially liberal people with some distant Catholic baggage, most are not more than two generations away from the countryside and abject poverty. They also fundamentally believe their country to be the most corrupt/inefficient etc. and they're more correct in that belief than Irish people are. Very same attitudes to work and family as you see in Ireland.

    I would say more similar to Irish folks than English (Scotland is a different).

    Yes, I have been to Spain heaps of times.

    Climate completely different.
    Landscape completely different.
    Food completely different.
    Language obviously different.
    Culturally very little overlap (TV, Music, Arts).

    Fundamentally socially liberal; and yet was run by a fascist dictator my lifetime and continues to have a monarchy.

    Ironically, we are culturally probably far more aligned with Catalonia than greater Spain.


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    #133
    Nqp15hhu
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,254 ✭✭✭Nqp15hhu


    bubblypop wrote: »
    I have travelled a lot of England, including living there. Most of my family live there. so thats MY real life experience.
    Your real life experience seems to come from whatever part you lived in, but nowhere else.
    England is a big country.

    Don’t patronise me. Your experience is not more valuable.


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    #134
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    theteal wrote: »
    There's not a huge amount that I'd actually dislike, if I did I'd be gone tbh but since you asked.

    In no particular order
    - the vanity is a real thing. The effort that goes into hair, clothes, cars etc. is quite eye opening. This is moreso the males of the species too.

    when did you leave Ireland? it sounds as though you haven't kept in touch with the Prada wearing, botox injecting fake tan covered youth of today.

    and as for the girls.......


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    #135
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 18,749 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Nqp15hhu wrote: »
    Don’t patronise me. Your experience is not more valuable.

    Neither is yours ;)


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    #136
    kildare lad
    Registered Users Posts: 2,010 ✭✭✭kildare lad


    Depend what part , I've been to England and good few times and the only real difference is the accents , although while visiting a relative in birmingham I felt I was in India .


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    #137
    BalcombeSt4
    Registered Users Posts: 1,780 ✭✭✭BalcombeSt4


    I think an interesting question would be the roles reversed. Do English people feel like Ireland (as a whole) is a foreign country?

    When the North erupted in 69/70 ministers & officials in the Wilson government admitted they had no clue about Ireland, Irish culture or Irish politics, and when the Heath government came to power in July 1970 it was very much the same attitude.

    The biggest mistake the Wilson government made was sending troops to Ireland & leaving the Unionists in charge of them. And then when Labour came back to power in 74, during the UWC Strike he made the infamous "Spongers" speech, which to be fair he wasn't wrong, Unionists do sponge of the British state.


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    #138
    Jim2007
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 9,994 Mod ✭✭✭✭Jim2007


    bubblypop wrote: »
    I have travelled a lot of England, including living there. Most of my family live there. so thats MY real life experience.
    Your real life experience seems to come from whatever part you lived in, but nowhere else.
    England is a big country.

    Your right it is a big country, but your experience seems to be of the Irish community in England, so not exactly the same thing.


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    #139
    RobMc59
    Registered Users Posts: 4,831 ✭✭✭RobMc59


    BalcombeSt4 wrote: »
    I think an interesting question would be the roles reversed. Do English people feel like Ireland (as a whole) is a foreign country?

    When the North erupted in 69/70 ministers & officials in the Wilson government admitted they had no clue about Ireland, Irish culture or Irish politics, and when the Heath government came to power in July 1970 it was very much the same attitude.

    The biggest mistake the Wilson government made was sending troops to Ireland & leaving the Unionists in charge of them. And then when Labour came back to power in 74, during the UWC Strike he made the infamous "Spongers" speech, which to be fair he wasn't wrong, Unionists do sponge of the British state.

    I live in England and have been coming to Ireland since the early 80`s.I think It`s a wonderful place and it would be very easy to live there.Both countries are so similar,shops,way of life etc.


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    #140
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 18,749 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Jim2007 wrote: »
    Your right it is a big country, but your experience seems to be of the Irish community in England, so not exactly the same thing.

    What?
    I lived there, I went to school there, with kids from many different cultures, I have family over there, English family.
    I'm not sure why you think I only know Irish people?


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    #141
    Jim2007
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 9,994 Mod ✭✭✭✭Jim2007


    begbysback wrote: »
    We drink their tea, speak their language and support their football teams, other than the accents it may as well be home.

    Try doing business with a Rupert and you’ll discover just how different they are.


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    #142
    Tombo2001
    Registered Users Posts: 6,470 ✭✭✭Tombo2001


    kildare lad wrote: »
    Depend what part , I've been to England and good few times and the only real difference is the accents , although while visiting a relative in birmingham I felt I was in India .

    Sure didnt they used to say the same about Kilburn and the Irish......


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    #143
    whisky_galore
    Registered Users Posts: 15,753 ✭✭✭✭whisky_galore


    Another ruminating over England thread. Never had one of those before.


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    #144
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Jim2007 wrote: »
    Try doing business with a Rupert and you’ll discover just how different they are.

    What is a Rupert?


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    #145
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Deleted User wrote: »
    What is a Rupert?

    a bear that wears tartan?


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    #146
    Feisar
    Registered Users Posts: 6,602 ✭✭✭Feisar


    Deleted User wrote: »
    What is a Rupert?

    It's slang for an officer in the British Army but in this context I presume it means an English person.

    First they came for the socialists...



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    #147
    Yyhhuuu
    Registered Users Posts: 798 ✭✭✭Yyhhuuu


    Graces7 wrote: »
    Balderdash and bunkum! You have no idea. And many villages and towns now are deserted.

    Just takes a little longer to get to know a city in England. But it is worth it. It really is.

    I was once told only the wealthy lived in the villages and towns in England. Perhaps the person who told me this was watching too much Midsummer Murder


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    #148
    Running Balance
    Registered Users Posts: 686 ✭✭✭Running Balance


    Maybe already mentioned but I think it might be dependent on what area of england you are in.

    I could be wrong but I guess east Anglia has few irish whereas liverpool where I live is stacked full of us and therefore the locals are more akin to our ways!!

    Anyone that says english people have no clue about ireland is fair but they also have no clue about england half them.. If you were to ask any of them to name the counties of england..... well think Joey in friends naming the US states


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    #149
    Mollydog123
    Registered Users Posts: 48 ✭Mollydog123


    I walked a lot of the national trails in the North of the UK and found the people to be very friendly. The main differences I noticed was the size of the fields, they were huge and as a result much less hedgerows and birds. Also the right to roam, some of the trails went through peoples front gardens and farmers fields and yards. Always found the farmers to be friendly. Couldn't imagine walking across some farmers yard in Ireland.


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    #150
    Church on Tuesday
    Registered Users Posts: 3,858 ✭✭✭Church on Tuesday


    cgcsb wrote: »
    Ever been to Spain? or know many Spanish people?
    A fundamentally socially liberal people with some distant Catholic baggage, most are not more than two generations away from the countryside and abject poverty. They also fundamentally believe their country to be the most corrupt/inefficient etc. and they're more correct in that belief than Irish people are. Very same attitudes to work and family as you see in Ireland.

    I would say more similar to Irish folks than English (Scotland is a different).

    I could, at best, take or leave the Spanish. Found them rude by times.

    I have got on much much more with the English like another poster has mentioned.


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    #151
    Wallet Inspector
    Closed Accounts Posts: 252 ✭✭Wallet Inspector


    Aegir wrote: »
    I am curious to know where in Ireland I find this wonderful place where the people don't look down on others, the streets are full of beautifully maintained architecture and there is an abundance of good value high quality food.

    15 years living here and i have yet to find it.
    Those comments all came from different people.

    Mine was the food bit - Cork. Loads upon loads of great restaurants and cafes. Just because I said one thing doesn't mean I'm having a go at England, which has miles better music and TV.


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